Speak with Confidence

4

Creating Your
Content, Organizing

Your Information,
Polishing Your Points

A speech without a specific purpose is like a
journey without a destination.

RALPH C. SMEDLEY

In order to speak short upon any subject, think

long. H. H. BRACKENRIDGE

In some respects a speech is like a love affair.

Any fool can start one, but to end it requires

considerable skill. LORD MANCROFT

Banality is a symptom of non-communication.
Men hide behind their clichés.

EUGENE IONESCO

Pun: The lowest form of humor, unless you

thought of it first. UNKNOWN

Wit ought to be a glorious treat, like caviar.
Never spread it about like marmalade.

NOEL COWARD

43

Copyright 2003 Dianna Booher. Click Here for Terms of Use.

44 Chapter Four

Your preparation for a presentation typically will involve these key steps.
That preparation may take only a few minutes or many weeks depending on
the length of your talk, how well you already know your topic, and how high
the stakes are that you “get it right.”

■ Determine your purpose.
■ Analyze your audience.
■ Research and gather your information.
■ Compose a one-sentence or one-paragraph overview of your main mes-

sage to serve as a roadmap.
■ Organize your ideas and information with an idea wheel.
■ Create a detailed outline, including an attention-getting opening, smooth

transitions, a strong closing, and all the finishing touches that make your
presentation colorful.
■ Write a first draft of a script (occasionally).
■ Edit and polish your content.
■ Prepare any supporting visuals.
■ Anticipate questions and prepare your answers.
■ Prepare notes or an outline for delivery.
■ Practice your speech using your notes or outline.
■ Prepare a key-word outline for delivery.
■ Destroy your script, notes, or complete outline and use your key-word
outline to deliver your presentation to your audience.

How necessary is this preparation? Why not just “wing it,” as the less pre-
pared say?

Not unlike Olympic athletes training for the big event, speakers must do
a great deal of work developing their presentations before appearing in
front of a group. The need to know where you are going—and how to get
there—is just as great in communication as in the sports arena.

YOUR PURPOSE

TIP 61: Determine Your Purpose Before You Do
Anything Else

Presenters typically have one or more of these five basic purposes: to inform,
to persuade, to inspire and motivate, to instruct, or to entertain.

To inform. “Absenteeism cost our company $2 million last year, and we
predict an increase of 30 percent in the coming year.”

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 45

To inform: Key message
Fact 1
Fact 2

To persuade: Key message/action wanted
Reason 1
Reason 2

To inspire/motivate: Key message
Illustration or fact 1
Illustration or fact 2

To instruct: Key concept
Illustration, fact, or information A
Illustration, fact, or information B

To entertain: Key point
Anecdote or illustration 1
Anecdote or illustration 2

Determine your purpose before you build your structure.

To persuade. “Absenteeism cost our company too much. Therefore, I’m
proposing that we begin health-awareness programs that reduce stress,
prevent disease, and increase overall fitness. Why? Because healthier
employees miss less work and are more productive.”

To inspire/motivate. “Our average employee misses fewer than 1.2 days per
year for health-related reasons. We commend you for your progressive
attitude about proper nutrition, exercise, and overall fitness. We plan to
offer a $500 bonus to every employee with a perfect attendance record
over the next year.”

To instruct. “I’d like to suggest three ways to help you reduce job-induced
stress. Then we’ll discuss the essentials of proper diet.”

To entertain. “Trying to maintain good health when you’re basically a lazy
person can be time-consuming. It took me a week just to map out a jog-
ging trail along my driveway. In fact, a friend of mine recently said it took
him four days to get his bicycle greased because. . . .”

You may decide to fine-tune your overview message to fit one of these
categories. Then select your supporting facts, reasons, illustrations, or
anecdotes.

Never underestimate the importance
of understanding the mission!

46 Chapter Four

Within these broad categorical purposes, you typically will have to get
more specific to be successful. For example, if you plan to inform a group,
you certainly cannot count on their remembering your complete half hour’s
presentation of planned budget cuts. Instead, focus on the two or three key
points that you want them to walk away with.

The purpose sets up the goal posts.

TIP 62: To Sharpen Your Focus on Your Purpose,
Ask “Why Me?”

Why have you been selected to present this information or message? What
specific qualities or credentials do you have? Pinpointing your unique
qualifications will provide a major clue about the strengths only you can
bring to the talk. For example, were you particularly close to a business
associate so that you can add emotional depth to his farewell address? As
the specialist who did the research on a project, can you answer questions
more authoritatively than anyone else? Do you have access to certain data
that no one else has? Have others with the same expertise been passed
over, and have you been invited to speak because of your humorous ap-
proach? Are you a recognized authority for a certain viewpoint? Will the
audience expect to hear your personal experiences about already accepted
ideas?

TIP 63: To Complete the Focus on Your Purpose,
Ask “Why Them?”

Why has this particular group assembled to hear you? Have their bosses,
clients, suppliers, or spouses requested that they attend? Do they have a per-
sonal interest in you? Do they have an interest in the subject? Do they want
to hear what you have to say so that they can contradict you and subvert
your efforts and ideas? Did they come to hear someone else, and you hap-
pened to be on the program? Is this their monthly organizational meeting,
and they are expected to show up? Honest answers to these questions can
help you choose appropriate opening remarks, the right tone, and the best
order for presenting your ideas.

TIP 64: Imagine You Were Going to Be Forced to
Measure and Report on Your Success

Let’s go back to the previous example about informing your group on
planned budget cuts. If the group members can recall those points a week

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 47

later, you have achieved your purpose to inform; if they cannot, you have
not been successful.

If your purpose is to instruct a group of employees on taking credit-card
applications over the phone, then you can measure whether you achieved
that purpose fairly easily: Can they complete the applications without error?

If your purpose is to motivate them to adopt a healthier lifestyle, you can
determine your success by the action they take: increased exercise, reduced
stress, more nutritious, healthier meals, and so forth.

Thinking of the pressure of having to measure and report on your spe-
cific success—what your audience members do or do not remember, do or
do not do, understand or do not understand—will lead you to focus on the
essentials of your content.

And this focus ultimately helps you to weed out the “nice to include”
ideas and information from the “must include” ideas and information—a
particularly helpful practice when you know a lot about your topic and have
less time than you would like to share it.

Visualize yourself measuring and reporting on your results with your
audience, and sort and sift your information accordingly.

YOUR AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

TIP 65: Profile Your Audience with an
Extensive Questionnaire

Although you will not find this doable or desirable on every occasion, gath-
ering background information can be enormously helpful. And most of the
time you do not even know how it will help you until after you collect the
data. For starters, find answers to these key questions:

■ What is the age, sex, race, religion, or political bent of the audience
members?

■ What is the proportion of men to women?
■ What is their educational background?
■ What is their occupation?
■ Is their work experience technical or nontechnical?
■ What is their income level?
■ What do their individual lifestyles have in common?
■ What organizations do they belong to?
■ What is their individual motivation for hearing the presentation?
■ What are some of the potential uses for your information?

48 Chapter Four

■ What are their prejudices and biases about this subject?
■ What is their knowledge of the subject?
■ What are their opinions about the organization you represent?
■ What are their current problems or challenges?
■ What are their goals and wants?
■ Are they decision makers? Influencers? Implementers?
■ What are the significant events related to this meeting, department, cor-

poration, city, or organization?
■ Are there any taboo subjects or issues?
■ Will they appreciate humor, or is this a solemn occasion?
■ What is their style of learning—seeing, hearing, doing? How much inter-

activity do they typically have in similar sessions?
■ How do they feel about attending this presentation? Passive? Inconve-

nienced? Competitive with you, the speaker, or each other? Unified with
you, the speaker, and others in the audience? Manipulated for having to
attend or participate in any way? Resistant to your ideas and philosophy?
Afraid they will not understand what you are saying? Challenged to
adopt your ideas? Eager to apply your information? Uncomfortable with
the setting?
■ How many people will be in the audience? (This will determine your use
of visuals, room arrangement, and interaction possibilities.)
■ What is the layout of the room? Can it be altered?
■ Will food and/or beverages be served before, during, or after the pre-
sentation?
■ How will attendees be dressed?
■ What topics have other speakers on the program (or in past programs)
addressed? What was the audience reaction?
■ Is there a meeting theme? If so, what is it?
■ Will there be a formal question-and-answer period?
■ Will special VIPs, guests, or the press be present?

TIP 66: Interview Your Key Contacts to Gather
“Inside Information”

Start with the person who invited you to make the presentation, and be spe-
cific. Instead of asking, “Could you tell me a little about the group?” ask,
“What details can you give me that will help me customize my comments to

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 49

the unique needs and characteristics of the audience?” Ask about written
evaluations or hearsay and anecdotal comments about the group’s reac-
tions to past meetings or to industry news. If necessary, be ready with your
written list of questions.

Don’t stop there, however. I have often discovered that those who plan
meetings sometimes know very little about the interests and knowledge of
those who actually will attend the meeting. Planners tend to differ from
audience members, too, in their view of the meeting’s purpose.

If you’re presenting your proposal to a customer, ask your immediate
contact the same kinds of questions: How many will attend my presenta-
tion? Are these engineers more interested in the software applications or
the hardware? Have you compared our equipment with other products on
the market? What were your reservations about our competitors’ products?
What are the three most serious problems your engineers face on this proj-
ect? What is your time frame for making a purchase decision?

After you talk to those in charge of the program or presentation, go to
the next level of interviewees—actual or prospective audience members.
Phone a select few ahead of time, survey all potential attendees with a for-
mal questionnaire, or stand at the door and chat with individuals as they
arrive. Even this last-minute data collection is better than none at all. With
little or no preparation time and in light of new information gained about
your audience’s interests, you can decide to add or delete a point, spend
three minutes longer on point A and three minutes less on point B, or sub-
stitute illustration C for illustration D to make the same point more relevant
to the audience’s experience.

TIP 67: Research Published Information About
the Group

Other sources for general information include literature published by
the group or offered by its organization: Web site pages, general bro-
chures, sales and marketing literature, product catalogs, annual reports,
histories of the organization, journal articles published by its members in
industry or business publications, and copies of past program bulletins
and evaluations.

TIP 68: Group Your Audience into Categories and
Determine How to Win Them Over

After researching your audience, your next step is to get specific about what
it will take to meet or exceed their expectations. It may help to group them
in categories such as these:

50 Chapter Four

The fans. These audience members are interested in your topic and look-
ing for ways they can support your key message. What opportunity can
you give them to speak up and help you sell your idea to the rest of the
group? What data or information can you provide to help them pass
along the information they already have on the subject?

The undecided but open. These audience members will be attentive. What
depth and authority do they need to step over the line?

The hostile. These attendees have an opposing mission and will be ready to
challenge whatever you say. They may or may not communicate their
concerns or ask questions. They may or may not show interest openly.
What can you do to minimize their impact on the rest of the group?

The bored. These people are trapped in your presentation for whatever
reason. They may sit quietly and not cause trouble or may ask ques-
tions or raise issues to alleviate their boredom. They may unknowingly
make your job more difficult or distract others from the action you
want. What can you do to involve them in a positive rather than nega-
tive way?

TIP 69: Never Underestimate the Importance
of Customizing

You cannot develop a boilerplate presentation and expect it to fit all audi-
ences anymore than your parents can pick out your prom dress or tux on
the day of your birth. Chances that it will fit are slim. Certainly once you put
effort into preparing a presentation—let’s say to introduce a new market-
ing campaign throughout your organization—you will want to be able to
use that basic information for all groups of employees. But never expect
that you can use that presentation verbatim. You will need to shape and
reshape it to make sure the illustrations, data, examples, word choice, and
tone are all appropriate to each specific group. This is why extemporane-
ous speaking still requires humans!

TIP 70: Remember That Every Audience Takes on a
Life and Personality of Its Own

Keep in mind that every audience has a life and personality of its own. A
group’s unique chemistry can turn individuals into a supportive, chal-
lenged audience that hangs on your every word. Or the combination of per-
sonalities can make the majority conform to the passive or negative
reaction of a few leaders. Despite the phenomenon of group synergy, which
remains a mystery until you begin speaking, do everything possible to learn

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 51

all you can about the group in advance. Then be “present” and sponta-
neous enough to “go with the flow” as you read your audience and the cur-
rent situation.

YOUR TOPIC RESEARCH

TIP 71: Keep an Ongoing Collection of “Snippets” on
Your Topics of Interest or Specialization

Even if you are not a professional speaker on the lecture circuit, you
undoubtedly have personal and professional interests in certain subjects.
Keep ongoing tidbits that might be useful to you later in a presentation
about these subjects or your industry: illustrations, quotations, statistics,
survey results, research summaries, and anecdotes. Jot the source and
date in the margin of each clipping, and toss it into the appropriate paper
file. Or scan or record the information in your computer research
database.

For years I have kept such an assorted collection on my topics of interest
in life balance and communication—most of them tossed into about 15 dif-
ferent paper files labeled according to my most frequently requested aspects
of communication. Then several years ago I switched over to a massive com-
puter database to store all the research. I assure you, however, that either sys-
tem will work. The best system is the one that you will use consistently.

TIP 72: Search the Web Efficiently

Lack of information is rarely the problem—the issue is culling through the
massive amounts of information available at the click of a mouse to find the
perfect fact, statistic, or quotation. You will find some of the best listings of
experts on a variety of topics and industries in three primary ways on the Web:
(1) Examine various speaker bureau Web sites, which list thousands of the
world’s most renowned authors, consultants, sports figures, politicians, and
government and business leaders. (2) Once you have the names of these
experts, you can interview them or find their research in published books,
newsletters, and articles, often available on their individual Web sites. (3) Uni-
versities provide other experts typically involved in ongoing research.

Here are additional Web sites you may find useful:

www.ipl.org. Almanacs, calendars, dictionaries, quotations, phone num-
bers and addresses, biographies, style and writing guides

www.firstgov.gov. Information, services, and resources from the U.S.
government

52 Chapter Four

www.bls.gov. U.S. Department of Labor statistics

www.access.gpo.gov. Online U.S. government manual published every two
years that includes brief histories and current programs for agencies asso-
ciated with all areas of the government and the military; also contains list-
ings for independent establishments, government corporations, boards,
commissions and committees, and quasi-official agencies

www.associationcentral.com. Association-related information, products, and
services showcase for associations (Then the specific associations can lead
you to their industry-specific information.)

www.ipl.org/div/aon/. Guide to Web sites of prominent organizations and
associations

http://infomine.ucr.edu. 23,000 searchable, academically valuable resources

www.invisibleweb.com. Directory of over 10,000 databases, archives, and
search engines that traditional search engines do not typically access

www.ask.com (Ask Jeeves). General information

www.refdesk.com. General information

www.ceoexpress.com. General business information of interest to executives

www.completeplanet.com. 103,000 searchable databases and specialty search
engines

TIP 73: Identify Who Else Has a “Need to Know” to
Locate Hard-to-Find Information

For hard-to-find information, ask yourself who else would be most likely to
want to know certain facts, statistics, or trends. If you need to know the
average woman’s shoe size, who else would likely need to know this infor-
mation and have already researched it? Shoe manufacturers? Retail shoe
or department stores? If you need to know how many parking spaces the
average dentist provides for clients, who should you consult? Commercial
developers? Strip-mall building managers? Dental clinic administrators? If
you need to know the number of abortions performed in the United
States last year, would you call the Department of Health and Human Ser-
vices? The local abortion clinic? Local antiabortion agencies? A school
counselor?

Call a local university professor for an expert opinion on a technical sub-
ject. A corporate public relations office can help with quotations from the
chief executive officer (CEO) or financials published in the company’s
annual report. A publisher can put you in touch with a book’s author for a
fresh quotation on a current event. Whatever your subject or need, some
expert will know or be willing to offer a fresh perspective.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 53

Also don’t overlook the wealth of information at your disposal through a
phone call to your local public or university librarian. Libraries have resources
that the Internet does not. Many libraries offer a reference desk with staff who
specialize and delight in finding hard-to-locate information for you—even at
odd hours of the day or night. Researchers, armed with a master’s degree in
library science or in information services, can ferret out sources, facts, and
data you never dreamed existed and call you back within minutes to give you
just the exact detail to make your talk authoritative.

TIP 74: Avoid Common Research Pitfalls

The Internet has made researching easy. By the same token, the Internet
has made researching precisely more difficult. Mistakes proliferate around
the globe at the speed of a click. So keep the following guidelines in mind:

■ Be wary about facts for which no source is listed—electronically, in print,
on TV. If your whole point rests on a certain fact, check more than one
source to validate it.

■ Attribute quotations correctly. While doing research for a previous book,
I found a particular Pascal quotation (true source as verified by a Pascal
scholar at the University of California who referred me to the original
Pascal source document) attributed to no fewer than four other
authors—Teddy Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Mark Twain, and Winston
Churchill. Reference books are highly reliable; memories are not.

■ Do not use an exceptional situation to prove your key point.

■ Avoid sweeping generalizations of unsupported opinions.

■ Do not take things out of context. The temptation may be great to lift an
attention-getting passage or comment from a university professor, an
author, or another recognized expert and then flesh it out with your own
assumptions. It is quite embarrassing, however, when someone in your
audience points out that the expert you quoted actually supports the
opposing idea.

■ State your assumptions up front.

■ Consider the validity of other positions on an issue; even if you do not
present the opposing views, doing so will produce a more thorough and
objective analysis of the subject.

Sound like a lot of work? It is time-consuming to double-check sources,
facts, and so forth. But your responsibilities include putting in the time
needed to ensure credibility. As a speaker, you are morally obligated to pre-
sent the truth, without deception. A second incentive for verifying your

54 Chapter Four

information is to avoid the embarrassment of having an audience member
call your error to light.

TIP 75: Do Not Overlook Personal Experience—
Yours or That of Others—as You “Research”

Examine your background for anecdotes, overheard conversations, reactions
to problems, and feelings and moods that underscore the key points of your
presentation. Many people keep a journal of memorable experiences, con-
versations, or happenings they have witnessed or been part of. You never
know when such an incident will be the exact illustration you need to make
your point and win audience identification.

Next, ask friends, acquaintances, and coworkers for similar anecdotes or
personal experiences. You will be surprised at how many illustrations you
can gather to reinforce your points just by mentioning your subject over
lunch or during casual conversations.

YOUR STRUCTURE: MOVING BEYOND FIRST,
SECOND, THIRD . . .

TIP 76: Compose a Brief Overview

This one-paragraph overview serves as your roadmap. It marries your mes-
sage to your audience with the expectation of listeners following your pre-
sentation. For example:

Our record-storage center has reached capacity. This warehouse space,
which costs us approximately $90,000 annually, houses primarily useless
information. I recommend that we revise our record-retention schedules,
purge our current files, terminate our lease on the warehouse site, and
begin a paperwork-reduction campaign. Within three years we can reduce
our paperwork costs by an estimated $1.8 million. I need your approval to
implement these changes.

With such a comprehensive yet focused roadmap at the beginning, your
presentation practically composes itself. In the preceding example, the key
supporting points are obvious: (1) current situation of waste and cost, (2)
record-retention schedules—current and proposed, (3) how-tos of purging
current files, (4) details of terminating the warehouse lease, (5) steps, costs,
and how-tos of paperwork-reduction campaign, (6) estimation of savings, and
(7) approval needed.

Composing a succinct overview is the single most important thing you
can do to ensure an effective presentation. You need a speech theme or
point of view like a product needs a slogan. It is a rallying call. Half your
preparation is done at this point.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 55

TIP 77: Narrow Your Ideas to a Few Key Points

Contrary to what you may think, you are likely to struggle more with nar-
rowing your ideas to a few good points than with generating enough ideas
to support your general message. For most business occasions, your key
points are pretty well defined by the purpose of the meeting.

Just remember that in this era of 30-second commercials, one-sentence
newspaper updates, 8-line “e-zines,” 15-word cell-phone text messages,
200-word magazine articles, 15-minute oil changes, 20-minute pizza deliv-
eries, and 1-hour photos, your audience appreciates brevity. And so do cor-
porate pocketbooks. Figure the salaries of those gathered to hear you, and
ask yourself if each of your points is worth $X per minute.

TIP 78: Include an Opening, a Body, and a Closing

Jot down the key points you have in mind to support your message state-
ment. Then list questions your audience is likely to have about the subject.
Put these notes aside for a few days, and let your subconscious mull over the
ideas. As you come up with subpoints, additional illustrations, and other
relevant tidbits, throw them on top of your notes pile. When you are ready
to construct a formal outline, go through the pile and sort the items into a
logical order (as explained later in this book). Discard anything that does
not seem to fit anymore. You are now ready to write a formal outline using
these major headings: opening, body, and closing.

TIP 79: Determine the Basic Framework

Your topic generally will lend itself to one of these basic arrangements:

Topical. “We recommend a combination of ways to stay healthy—practice
good nutrition, get exercise, reduce stress, and avoid substance abuse.”

Most important to least important. “The most important way to stay healthy
is to avoid drugs and alcohol. The second is to eat properly. Third is
proper exercise.”

Problem to solution. “Absenteeism is costing us $2 million annually. Most
absences are health-related. We need to teach our employees how to stay
healthy and reinforce their efforts through company-sponsored exercise
facilities, subsidized meal plans, and substance-abuse counseling.”

Chronological. “In 1992, absenteeism cost us $X. In 1997, it cost $Y. In
2002, it cost $Z. This year we predict a 15 percent increase, for a total of
$22 million, unless we take immediate action. I suggest that a company-
sponsored health-maintenance plan be implemented during the next
three years. In the first and second quarters, we could provide. . . . In the
second half of the year, we could. . . .”

56 Chapter Four

Comparison/contrast. “Our rate of absenteeism is twice as high as the
industry average. And yet our average employee is younger, lives closer to
the job, and works shorter hours.”

Geographic. “Our absenteeism rate in Atlanta is X because. . . . In Dallas,
it’s Y because. . . . In Minneapolis, the rate is Z because. . . .”

Spatial/physical form. “In the north wing we could accommodate an
indoor walking/running track. In the south wing we could set up a small
cafeteria.”

Cause to effect/effect to cause. “Employees often work 12-hour days and do
not have the time or energy to cook or exercise when they get home.
Therefore, they do not take time to prepare nutritious meals or to exer-
cise. Our average employee asks for a transfer every six months due to
on-the-job stress. We think this stress is related to short deadlines, mal-
functioning equipment, and customer complaints.”

Frequency. “Most employee absences are due to respiratory infections, so I
want to outline our plans to deal with those problems primarily. The sec-
ond most commonly reported illness is stomach flu, so I will overview
how to handle those cases next. Information on the less frequent
absences caused by a heart condition will be summarized briefly in a
handout.”

Most difficult to least difficult. “Our biggest challenge will be bankrolling
the health facilities. Our next biggest challenge will be finding qualified
medical advisers.”

Objections/answers. “Management’s main objection will be the cost. How-
ever, studies in companies similar to ours show that health prevention
costs much less than absenteeism.”

Goal/steps. “Our number one goal is to maintain an average of no more
than one absence per employee annually. Here are the three steps nec-
essary to achieve this.”

Status quo/change. “We now allow employees 10 days of sick leave each
year. Under the new plan, we would provide five days of sick leave but
offer a bonus for unused leave.”

Feature/benefits. “This exercise bike has a tilt bar that. . . . This feature
allows the rider to change positions and exercise different abdominal
muscles simply by. . . .”

Procedures. “The first step is to appoint a management committee. The
second step is to form a volunteer employee advisory board. This board
will then draft policies and submit them to the entire organization.”

Narration. “One of our managers, Omar Kopek, noted an increased num-
ber of employees out on sick leave following the three stress-filled weeks
in the Leola plant. Some of his people reported. . . .”

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 57

Description. “The food service will include. . . . The exercise room will
have four rowing machines designed to. . . .”

Your presentation may encompass several of these frameworks. For exam-
ple, your main framework may be problem to solution, but under your
point about proper nutrition, you may mention features of the food facility
you want to fund.

This extensive list should help you generate a number of ways to think
about your topic. Once you understand the broad range of ways to organize
your supporting detail, you probably will generate many more ideas than
you will have time to present.

Then, with your overview statement or paragraph (roadmap) and key
points plugged into an overall framework, look for anecdotes, statistics,
explanations, testimonials, facts, or illustrations to flesh out or further sup-
port your points.

TIP 80: Consider This Format for a “Problem to
Solution” Presentation

Overview the problem. Recommend the solution. Elaborate on the details
of the solution—why and how. Mention briefly other possible solutions that
you investigated and rejected. Outline the next steps. Recap the solution
and results.

TIP 81: Consider This Format for a “Goal and Steps”
Presentation

State the goal in terms that will interest your audience. Overview all steps to
the goal. Elaborate on each step separately. Present an action plan with a
timeline. Recap the goal.

TIP 82: Consider This Format for a “Budget
Justification” Presentation

State the budget request. Summarize the justification or uses for the money.
Point out significant decreases and increases from previous periods. Elabo-
rate on key uses or results expected for the budget increases. Mention sig-
nificant timing issues. Recap your key request and uses.

TIP 83: Consider This Format for a “Product or Service
Overview” Presentation

Introduce your product or service. Differentiate your product or service in
the marketplace. Overview key benefits or advantages. Overview marketing
plans, sales goals, and time lines.

58 Chapter Four

TIP 84: Consider This Format for a “Status Report”
Presentation

Overview the key accomplishments or summarize the current status of a
project. Highlight the significance of the latest accomplishment or results.
Elaborate only on key details—usually the how and why. Overview the next
steps briefly. Ask for any necessary approval on next steps.

TIP 85: Generate Details and a Full Outline with an
Idea Wheel

The idea wheel lets you capture several hours’ worth of ideas in a single
view. You can easily use it to give a 10-minute talk on a school fund-raiser or
a half-day presentation to a prospect about your organization’s financial

Key clients XYZ Corporation
ABC Corporation
DEC Corporation

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Williams

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INTRODUCTION
OF NEW

FINANCIAL
SERVICES

TO THE

COMMUNITY Investment advice
HourNlyobciFollilmnagtmfeisesioorn%onofinavsessetmtsents
Fee structure Tax shelters
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Generate details with an idea wheel.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 59

services. The advantage of keeping the whole structure in front of you is
that, at a glance, you know where you have been and where you are going.
In fact, when developing a team presentation, you may decide to draw your
idea wheel on a flipchart to let your group see the structure of the talk as it
evolves.

TIP 86: Determine the Proper Tone

Do you want to be formal? Warm and witty? Light? Humorous? Serious?
Informative? Persuasive? Entertaining? This decision will affect your word
choice, your anecdotes—even your key points and supporting detail. Dis-
card any information that might contribute to an undesirable tone.

Additionally, to some extent your audience will dictate your tone. When
addressing your boss or other superiors, you will make recommendations
and suggestions rather than lecture or dictate a course of action. To peers
and team members, you will use the “we” approach, providing informa-
tion and examples, asking for input, and answering questions.

To groups with special interests such as clients or political or social
groups, you will focus on their concerns and weed out irrelevant data and
illustrations. You will adopt a persuasive tone and offer your opinion, per-
sonal experiences, and preferences.

TIP 87: Plan the Overall Timing

You do not want an introduction that runs 10 minutes when your whole
speech lasts only 20 minutes. Keep the proportions of the three parts
(opening, body, and closing) in mind. For an hour-long presentation, a 5-
to 10-minute introduction may be appropriate. For a two-minute farewell
gift to a colleague, do not spend one minute explaining why you were cho-
sen to present the memento.

The issue of timing also applies to key points. Time equals importance.
Make sure each point gets the time it deserves—no more, no less. Whatever
happens, you do not want someone to announce that your time is up when
you are only on the second of five points.

A multiplicity of words indicates poverty of
thought.

Too many people run out of ideas long before

they run out of words. E. C. MCKENZIE

60 Chapter Four

TIP 88: Prepare Multiple Versions of Various Key Points

When you know that timing may vary, such as when you are one presenter
among many on a long agenda, know where you can expand or extract to
stay within your allotted time.

If you are preparing a presentation that you may deliver numerous times,
consider having a long-, a short-, and a medium-length version of key anec-
dotes and illustrations. For example, you may plan to use a story about the
excellent customer service offered in your organization. You could tell one
long anecdote to illustrate the point, a shorter version of that same anec-
dote, or three very brief anecdotes to make the same point. Or if time is
very limited, you may opt to share two key statistics from your customer sat-
isfaction survey and omit the anecdotes altogether.

In other words, have in mind more than one way to make your points—
all of them.

TIP 89: Build a Condensed Version of Your
Presentation Before You’re in the Limelight

Assume the worst. Plan what you will cover if your time is unexpectedly cut
short: If the client CEO walks into the meeting half an hour late. If a fire
alarm goes off before the meeting is to begin, and your presentation slot is
reduced by half. If your executive director interrupts to say that he or she
has to leave the meeting in five minutes.

If you are using slides for your presentation, you have three choices: (1)
Select either an overview slide or a summary slide and use that to make your
key points, adding sufficient detail on the most important points. (2) Opt
to use your back-up plan—the “custom show.” That is, beforehand define a
subset of a few key slides that you can use for an abbreviated presentation.
Then when you see that your time has been curtailed, select this new,
shorter slideshow. (3) Know the slide numbers for a few key slides and go
directly to these slides by hitting those numbers, followed by the Enter key.

If you are not using visual support at all, then your job is easier: All you
need to do is shuffle your brain to sift out the secondary details and focus on
the highlights. This is why you need to know exactly how long it takes to make
each point adequately—and to what detail—before you are in the limelight.

OPENINGS THAT ENTICE

TIP 90: Consider Using an “Opening to the Opening”

There are two kinds of openings to a presentation. I call one the opening
to the opening—comments that refer to the occasion itself. The second
opening introduces your topic. Occasionally, the two can be smoothly
combined.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 61

The primary purpose of any opening is to get the audience’s attention.
Television networks spend enormous amounts of money on startling head-
lines, splashy visuals, engaging teasers and trivia, mood music, and intrigu-
ing storyline leaders to keep you tuned in for the upcoming show. Similarly,
the introduction you craft for your presentation can either win over or turn
off your audience.

Your opening must engage the audience immediately. They will want to lis-
ten to you only if they think you can help them, entertain them, or inform
them. At the least, they want to know you identify with their feelings, atti-
tudes, or values. Therefore, you have to establish credibility immediately.
Why should they listen to you? How are you similar to (or different from)
them? What qualifies you to talk on the subject? The opening sets the overall
direction of your presentation and lets the audience know what is about to
happen and why they should listen.

To arouse interest, to establish rapport and credibility, to give direction—
if your opening to the topic does not allow you to accomplish these things,
then you may need an opening to the opening.

In an opening to the opening, you can do one or several of the follow-
ing things:

React to another’s introduction of you. “I appreciate your comment on my
cycling trip; that should keep me humble during the next 10 minutes.”
(This lets the audience identify with your embarrassment.)

Disclose something about yourself. “Since Bill brought up college alma
maters in his earlier remarks, I’ll bet you didn’t know that I was pictured
on the ‘Most Likely to . . .’ page of my senior yearbook: ‘Most Likely to
Have More Clothes than I Could Afford to Send to the Cleaners.’ Have
you ever been stupid enough to take all your white shirts to the cleaner
on the same day? And unlucky enough to have them disappear into a
black hole in the back room? Well, guess what? This morning. . . .” (Shar-
ing a personal foible shows vulnerability, allowing the audience to iden-
tify with you.)

Comment on the special occasion. “I congratulate you on the silver anniver-
sary of your medical service to the community.” (A warm fuzzy will inspire
the audience.)

Remember a special date or cause. “On the third anniversary of the traffic
accident that claimed so many of our colleagues, I want to go on record
as one who remembers their sacrifice.” Or “This month marks the second
anniversary of the partnership between our companies. We’ve seen
changes in. . . .” (A common, shared experience with the audience
evokes positive feelings.)

Compliment the audience. “Many of you have set aside these two days for the
meeting at great expense to your own work schedules; you’ve put caring

62 Chapter Four

above your sales commissions.” Or “I understand that your organization
has won four awards for distinguished achievement in publishing.” Or
“Thank you for inviting me to join you for your annual golf tournament.”
(All of these provide warm fuzzies for the audience.)

Respond to the audience’s attitude. “I know I’m not addressing an unbiased
group on this subject, and I appreciate your willingness to hear my
views.” Or “I realize that several of you had urgent matters on your sched-
ule when you were asked to attend this presentation, but I can assure you
that our issue here is important to your future.” (Such comments pique
audience members’ interest and show your honesty and understanding
of their position.)

Refer to something earlier in the program. “As George told his shaggy-dog story
earlier, I recalled my similar frustration with such management atti-
tudes.” Or “I understand that your staff sessions for the past four months
have centered around [the topic]. I want to continue that emphasis, with
a slight twist.” (These reflections show an interest in the organization and
a shared earlier experience.)

Tell about your arrival. “You may think it’s easy to drive downtown from the
suburbs at 5 A.M. Well, some kind of record must’ve been set this morn-
ing. . . .” (Mentioning that you’re susceptible to the same problems oth-
ers have shows your humanness and often adds humor.)

Reflect on why you were selected for the presentation. “I’m not quite sure why
Jennifer asked me to present these ideas when so many of you are equally
qualified. Perhaps she just wanted a gen-Xer’s view of the issue, without
regard for the economics that charge the decision-making atmosphere.”
(This opening statement piques their curiosity and shows your under-
standing of the situation.)

Recognize key people in the audience. “Before beginning, I want to thank Vice
President Jordan Moore for being here tonight to lend his support to the
cause. His active involvement has cleared the necessary channels for
organizing this movement throughout the industry in particular. In
short, he’s put us on the map.” (Such comments show admiration and
identification with the audience’s point of view.)

Express your pleasure at being the presenter. “I want you to know how much
I’ve looked forward to addressing your group tonight. Many of you are
old friends who’ve made me look very good through the years.” (Express-
ing your eagerness to be with them compliments the audience and con-
veys your sincere gratitude.)

With any opening to the opening, keep your remarks brief—no more
than two or three sentences—before moving on to the real introduction to
your topic.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 63

TIP 91: Prepare an Opening to the Subject

Do not just “drift into” your subject. Select your opening according to your
purpose, the occasion and audience, and your topic. Once you have estab-
lished rapport, immediately let your audience know that it is to their bene-
fit to hear what you have to say. Keep in mind that your audience is
wondering, “What’s in it for me? Should I tune out? Sneak out for coffee?
Try and catch Geri Savage before she leaves for the day?”

Grab attention; do not just hope for it.

TIP 92: Ask a Rhetorical Question

Examples include “What makes a great leader?” “What would it take to
triple our sales in the next two years? Is this wishful thinking or could it be
reality?” “Is it possible never to feel depressed again—for any reason?” “Can
we improve our health care benefits to employees for less than we’re now
paying? I’d like to present some figures for your consideration.”

TIP 93: Make a Startling Statement

Examples “Your pension funds may not be there when you need them.”
“One out of four girls between the ages of 10 and 19 will be assaulted some-
time during her teens.” “One out of three people will need long-term care
in a health facility during their lifetime.”

TIP 94: Quote an Authority

Examples “The Apostle Paul had confidence in his source of love: ‘For I am
persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities . . . nor
any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.’ ”
“Dr. Joseph Stemmons, director of the research project, drew these conclu-
sions from his findings: ‘The traces of selenium found in Nevada crude oils
are insignificant and will in no way adversely affect the environment.’ ”

TIP 95: Challenge the Audience

Examples “I dare you to leave tonight unchanged in your attitude about the
poverty in our community.” “I challenge you to set a quota for your sales ter-
ritory that will motivate even your best performer.” “I urge you to seek out
the training you need to acquire the skills that will position you to move

64 Chapter Four

ahead in your chosen career.” “We need to lay off 12,000 employees in the
next 60 days—I need your help to lay out a plan to do it in the least painful
way possible.”

TIP 96: Declare Your Purpose

Examples: “My purpose is simply to present both sides of this issue.”
“After you see our designs, I’ll request your approval for the funding
needed to begin construction immediately.” “My hope is that you’ll write
out a check for any amount—$50, $100, or $1000—to underwrite this
memorial.” “I plan to introduce you to the project team, tell you a little
about each person’s responsibilities, and then present our recommenda-
tions as a committee.”

TIP 97: Brief Your Audience

An example: “I have three points to make tonight. First, our school-age
population has increased 48 percent the past 13 months. Second, we don’t
have adequate school facilities. And third, we’re going to have to choose
between a tax increase and an inadequate education for our children that
will eventually cost us millions of dollars in welfare, crime, and lost wages.”

TIP 98: Illustrate an Attitude or Create a Mood

An example: “With the kind of service our support center provides, making
a sales call is like walking across a field of firecrackers with a match in your
back pocket. Yesterday a customer I’d promised delivery to by August 1
grabbed me by the lapel and threatened a lawsuit. In Atlanta, it’s no better.”

TIP 99: Reveal a Startling Statistic

Examples: “In the last 3 months, we’ve spent more than $465,000 on ship-
ping charges.” “Our company has increased profits by 380 percent during
the last 10 months.” “Six to one. That’s the new rep-customer ratio.”

TIP 100: Mention a Current Event

An example: “This morning’s news bombarded us with the plight of the
Houston flood victims. Despite this latest disaster, we have yet to convince

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 65

the majority of our population of the need for appropriate insurance of all
kinds—flood, property, life, medical, disability.”

TIP 101: Share a Commonality

An example: “How many of you have eaten in a fast-food restaurant at least
three times in the last week? [Look around at the raised hands.] Now let me
describe the kitchen conditions at the restaurant where I ate breakfast this
morning, and you tell me if we need to push for tighter inspection standards
in this city.” Another example: “Maybe some of you are having the same diffi-
culties I face in handling these 360-degree performance reviews. Here’s what
happened to me last week. . . .” Then continue to relate a situation that you
think members of the audience can identify with as you make your key point.

TIP 102: Use a Visual Aid

An example: “Look at this necklace against the black velvet. What does its
sparkle have to do with mining conditions in Wyoming? I want to point out
three things that make this diamond undesirable to our buyers.”

TIP 103: Define a Term

An example: “GNC is a term you’ve seen in the company newsletter for
about five issues now. GNC: the Get-Next Command. Think we’re talking
about computers? No, this term refers to. . . .” Another example: “This year
we have one goal: strategic partnerships. Let me define what that means to
us—exactly what we’re looking for in our supplier relationships.”

TIP 104: Compare or Contrast Two Things

Examples: “Men look at garage shelving and say, ‘How functional!’ Women
look at it and say, ‘How ugly!’ ” “Our number-one competitor, Glabbco, has
increased its market share by 20 percent during the same period that ours
has decreased by 5 percent.”

TIP 105: Explain the Significance of Your Topic

An example: “At the conclusion of this study and the related field trips, our
dietitians will have gathered enough nutritional information to protect
Americans from four dread diseases.”

66 Chapter Four

TIP 106: Promise Benefits

General audiences want peace of mind, more money, self-satisfaction,
accomplishment, faith, love, approval, and success. Business audiences look
for benefits such as increased productivity, lower costs, higher revenue,
increased profits, better customer service and satisfaction, less downtime,
improved quality, smoother processes, higher retention rates, improved
customer loyalty, improved supplier relationships, more profitable strategic
partnerships, and more referrals.

The more specific you can be about these issues, the more attention you
will garner. For example, “At the conclusion of this presentation, you’ll
have at your disposal three techniques for increasing your income through
your part-time hobby.” Or “After this session, you should have a clear, four-
step process for solving customer complaints in your department.”

TIP 107: Don’t Routinely Begin with an Unrelated Joke
or Anecdote

Few humorous openings work because the humor rarely has anything to do
with the topic and merely leaves the audience hanging. It is like having
someone rush up to you in the grocery store with a broad smile and arms
extended and then slink away without a word when she realizes she has mis-
taken you for someone else. Even a funny story that relates to your subject
usually works better later in the presentation. At the beginning, the audi-
ence is still deciding how to react to you as a person.

TIP 108: Stay Away from the General “Good Morning”
or “Good Afternoon”

These greetings almost universally fall flat because they are so common—
possibly because they remind us of our school days when we felt obligated
to respond, “Good morning, Ms. Jones.”

TIP 109: Stay Away from Openings That Focus on
“Background,” “History,” or “Your Story”

The highest point of audience attention is the first few moments. Do not
squander those precious minutes with trivia, known information, or boring
information. Examples: announcements, the history of the organization or
division or product, an organizational chart, and the names and contact
information for team members. Another mistake, particularly in sales pre-
sentations, is to start with the story of your organization—an “all about us”

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 67

opening. And all the while, the client wants to know, “But what about me?
What can you do for me?”

Start with the message of interest to the listeners—the “what’s in it for
them”—not ancient history or ancillary, nice-to-know-sometime information.

TIP 110: Avoid Simply Repeating the Title of Your Talk

If your listeners have read the program and the introducer has mentioned
the title in your introduction, your reference will be, at best, anticlimactic.
At worst, it will be annoying.

TIP 111: Never Begin with an Apology

Things happen: Planes arrive late, equipment crashes, rooms grow stuffy, and
conflicts crowd preparation time. Some or none of these situations may be
under your control, and often the audience blames the presenter. But start-
ing with an apology focuses attention on the negative. Generally, it is best to
begin with your polished opening to the topic. Then if you feel it necessary to
apologize for another situation, do so a little later in a by-the-way comment.

TIP 112: Nix the Negatives

Do not complain about the room setup. Do not denigrate the city or state
you are in. Do not explain that you are unprepared. Do not apologize for a
boring topic. Do not use offensive language or make prejudicial statements.
An opening should arouse interest, establish rapport, and convey credibil-
ity to your audience. The following illustrates the difference an appropriate
opening can make:

Uh, I don’t know why I’m up here, but I guess it was my unlucky day or some-
thing. Anyway, I think I’m supposed to be giving you an update on the Mon-
roe survey. Shipping costs. I’ve got my notes here somewhere. The gist of
our findings is that we’re wasting a lot of money at that plant site. And we’ve
got a few suggestions for making some changes throughout the division.

versus

Would anyone like to take a guess at how much we spent on express ship-
ping services last quarter? Twenty-three thousand dollars in the Monroe
office alone! A survey just completed by an independent auditing firm
reveals that 85 percent of that cost was waste—shipping charges that could
have been avoided with scheduling that met our manufacturing deadlines.

68 Chapter Four

As a result of that study, we have three recommendations for reducing ship-
ping expenditures from $23,000 to less than $3000 over the next 30 days.

Start with credibility so that you can gain attention in order to end with
impact.

TIP 113: Promise Only What You Can Deliver

Never tease with benefits that are impossible to attain. If you promise an
audience a surefire way to lose 15 pounds in two weeks and then tell them
nothing they haven’t already tried, they are going to feel disappointed,
maybe even angry. If, during a meeting with your boss, you promise to come
up with three ways to reduce shipping costs but none turns out to be prac-
tical for your office environment, your boss may reasonably assume that you
are out of touch with your organization’s needs.

SUMMARIES THAT SIZZLE
TIP 114: Deliver Your Formal, Prepared Closing After
Any Q&A Period

After the body of your presentation, provide a transitional comment, per-
haps summarizing your key points to that segment of your presentation,
and then pause for the question-and-answer interaction. Then, after the
Q&A—whether two minutes or half an hour—deliver your formally pre-
pared, pithy closing comments. Your closing, not the questions, should
make the last imprint on the listeners’ minds.

TIP 115: Never Apologize in Closing for Not Doing
Well or Leaving Out Key Ideas

Only you know what you intended to say. Unless you become obviously flus-
tered or comment directly that you have omitted key points, your audience
may never know—or care.

TIP 116: Understand the Purpose for Your Summary

“And in closing . . .” makes our ears perk up as listeners, but as a speaker,
you want more. You want retention of what you have said. And often you
want action.

If your purpose is to inform, your closing may be simply a summary of
your key points. If your purpose is to persuade your audience to act—to

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 69

change an opinion, to make a decision, to approve a purchase, or to support
a cause—you will close by calling for a specific next step: enclose a check,
give the go-ahead on your project, approve a transfer, fill out an order form,
or volunteer to give blood. The action may be immediate or delayed.

If you are presenting to inspire, praise, or motivate, you will want to end
with a summary of your commendation or your expectations for the future.
You will want to move people to a particular state of mind by touching their
emotions. Often you will close this kind of presentation with an emotional
anecdote, a fiery quotation, or a prediction for commitment and success.

TIP 117: Signal When You’re About to Close

You may begin your closing with a phrase such as, “To wrap up our ses-
sion . . .”; “One final thought . . .”; “In concluding, I want to relate one last
incident about . . .”; “Let me leave you with this idea . . .”; “I’ll end with two
challenges . . .”; or “To put it succinctly, we must . . .” With these words,
your audience members perk up because they are hoping you are going to
wrap all they have heard in a nice, neat package.

TIP 118: Summarize Your Key Message

Make sure your audience understands and can summarize in a sentence your
key message. If you cannot do it, chances are that they cannot either. This
brings you back to the importance of the roadmap as you begin preparation.

TIP 119: Tie the Loop

Think of your speech as a loop; the ending should circle back to the begin-
ning. If you open with a provocative question, be sure to answer it in your
closing. If you startle the audience with statistics in your opening, end by
telling them how they can change those numbers. If you begin with a hard-
luck story, remind them of how the scenario could turn out differently. If
you start out with a challenge, leave the audience with the first step in meet-
ing that challenge. If you open with a promise to inform, simply tell them
what you told them.

TIP 120: End with a Wallop Rather Than a Whimper

Avoid rumblings and mumblings such as, “I guess that’s all I’ve got to say”;
“I think I’m about through unless you have questions”; “That’s all they

70 Chapter Four

We seek to dominate no other nation.
We ask no territorial expansion. We oppose imperialism.

We desire reduction in world armaments.
We believe in democracy;
we believe in freedom;
we believe in peace.

We offer to every nation of the world
the handclasp of the good neighbor.
Let those who wish our friendship
look us in the eye and take our hand.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt,
speaking on international affairs

A strong closing summarizes simply but dramatically.

asked me to say”; “I’m sorry I couldn’t get the projector to work, but I hope
you got the idea of how the shuttle will look”; “Oh, one thing I forgot to say
earlier is that. . . .”

In ending your talk, do not apologize, be long-winded, bring up new
points, throw in irrelevant details, change the mood of the group, or shuf-
fle off with no closing at all. Instead, pack a punch. Reinforce your talk with
a summary statement, make an appeal, look ahead to the future, ask a
rhetorical question, tell an anecdote, quote a well-known authority on the
issue, or use a related bit of humor.

Punch the point—do not swallow it.

TIP 121: Never Ramble on Past the Point of High Impact

Anything you say after your polished point of close dilutes your impact. Do
not ramble on with anticlimactic drivel. Say it and stop.

THE FINISHING TOUCHES
Anecdotes
TIP 122: Add Anecdotes to Touch All Five Senses

The setting creates the visual. Dialogue engages the ear. And if you can add
details that help listeners smell, taste, and feel the atmosphere, you have
increased your chances dramatically that they will remember your story and

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 71

the point it illustrates. If you have ever had music change your mood, then you
understand that the senses reach the emotions beyond the intellectual level.

TIP 123: Don’t Overlook the Value of Common
Experiences as Anecdotal Illustrations

Particularly effective anecdotes are those the group can most identify with—
those based on common feelings, predicaments, dilemmas, and decisions
that we all experience as humans. Draw from your own experiences, those of
“average” people you know, or those of the famous as related in their biogra-
phies or TV comments. Read newspapers and magazines with the intention
of culling the best stories that might illustrate your topics of interest. Clip
them and make a few phone calls or send an e-mail to get the “inside scoop.”
Often contact information is provided in the story. Those calls or e-mails will
provide the extra detail or dialogue to make the story come alive. Also relate
the story to family, friends, and coworkers to see what they find intriguing so
that you will know what you might highlight in later uses.

Anecdotes make dry points memorable.

TIP 124: Select Several Anecdotes to Illustrate
Each Key Point So That You Can Vary Them with
Different Audiences

Ideally, one polished anecdote will work with all audiences. In reality, it sel-
dom does. If you speak on one topic often, keep a list of anecdotes from
your daily observations and experiences that could illustrate your typical
points. Then, when your audiences and occasions vary, you can select the
most appropriate.

NOTE: For more tips on anecdotes, see Chapter 8.

Humor

TIP 125: Add Humor Through Anecdotes

The standard line among professional speakers about the importance of
humor, even in serious business presentations, goes like this: Question: Do
I have to use humor in my presentations? Answer: No—only if you want to
get paid. Humor comes through most naturally with anecdotes of personal
experiences and observations. For help in embellishing your own stories
with humor, see Chapter 8.

72 Chapter Four

TIP 126: Prepare One-Liners to Deliver
“Spontaneously”

If you do not consider yourself witty on your feet, prepare your one-liners
just like the professional comedians do. Select quotations, puns, quips, and
colorful phrasing during the preparation phase, and then deliver them as if
they are spontaneous.

TIP 127: Add Humor Through Visual Aids

Examples: a cartoon, a brief video clip, a funny sign that illustrates your issue,
photographs of people in odd situations or with humorous expressions.

Some speakers consider themselves to be their own humorous visual aids.
Their contorted body or facial expression gets the laugh.

Quotations
TIP 128: Select Short, Pithy Quotations

The longer the quotation, the more punch the audience expects it to pack.

TIP 129: Select Quotations from Both the Famous and
the Unknown

Quotations create impact by adding the words of a recognizable authority.
Those which find their way into print are usually succinctly and colorfully
worded, crystallizing the key idea better than most presenters could. Here
are a few Web sites that put applicable quotations at your fingertips:

www.quotationspage.com
www.quotegeek.com
www.bartleby.com
www.quoteland.com

But don’t overlook comments by lesser-known individuals and even
unknowns. For example, if you are speaking on current problems in the
industry, you might interview and share “person on the street” comments
gathered from remarks overheard at your trade-show booth at a national
convention. These may be anonymous or attributed remarks, depending
on which is more important to your point—what they said or who said it.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 73

If you are talking about industry trends, you might extract comments
from “Letters to the Editor” in your leading professional journal and pre-
sent them to your executive strategic planning committee.

If you are talking customer service, comments pulled from recent tele-
phone interviews, from your help desk logs, and from complaint e-mails
might be exactly the appropriate illustrations to make your point to your
team members.

If speaking to a committee of doctors about the morality of cloning
human beings, you may want to find a quotation from a well-respected
philosopher, theologian, or scientist.

In short, the notoriety or celebrity status of the author of the remark may
or may not be as important to the selection of the quotation as the com-
ment itself.

TIP 130: Let the Quotation Stand on Its Own Merit

You may have heard the macho maxim, “I never complain or explain.” If
you feel the need to explain the quotation you have selected or to para-
phrase it after quoting it, maybe it is not a good selection after all. To
explain or paraphrase the quotation dilutes its impact. Use it; pause to give
the audience time to consider it, and then move on.

TIP 131: Read a Quotation Directly from Its Source to
Add Authority

If you really want to increase credibility for a quotation from a business
executive, read it directly from a Wall Street Journal or Fortune clipping. This
is authenticity at its best.

Statistics

TIP 132: Use Statistics with Care

First, make sure they are up to date. Nothing will destroy your credibility
like numbers that are five years old. Also, make sure your statistics are not
misleading. If your competitor’s profit increased by 400 percent last year,
that may mean he or she sold four gadgets rather than one. Averages can be
deceptive, too. For instance, you wouldn’t conclude that a hiker who
crossed a desert on a 125-degree afternoon and then plunged into a 41-
degree mountain stream experienced an average temperature of 83
degrees during his or her hike.

74 Chapter Four

Be wary of using too many statistics. Bombarding your listeners with
numbers confuses them, reducing their chances of recalling any. To make
the statistics you select meaningful, frame them in a context your audi-
ence can understand. For example, here’s a headline from the Scripps
Howard News Service: “Taxes cost 163 minutes of every eight working
hours.” This puts the high cost of taxes in perspective; we work almost 3
hours out of eight to pay them. The writer breaks this figure down further:
food and tobacco cost 59 minutes; transportation, 40 minutes; medical
care, 39 minutes; clothing, 24 minutes; recreation, 20 minutes; and all
other expenses, 50 minutes. Such delineation gives the numbers context
and impact.

Remember, it is easier to gather statistics and facts than to make them rel-
evant and memorable. Do not get sidetracked by the first and forget about
the second.

TIP 133: Use Both Rounded and Exact Numbers

Exact numbers sound more credible: “The number of single-parent house-
holds among our employee population in the Los Angeles office has grown
to 83.9 percent” sounds exact and therefore accurate. Rounded numbers,
on the other hand, give the appearance of estimations. Yet “slightly less
than 85 percent” is easier to remember than “83.9 percent of the employ-
ees.” So which do you use if you want the numbers to be both credible and
memorable? Use the exact number first, and then round it off in later ref-
erences. Use the exact number in charts; round it off when elaborating on
the chart.

TIP 134: Make Statistics Experiential

People digest numbers with great difficulty. Graphs and charts help. But if
you can go beyond these common visuals, do so. For example, one manager
speaking before his peers at IBM about his budget being cut dramatically
yanked off his jacket to reveal his white shirt—with great big holes cut out
of the sides and back. Amid the laughter, he made his point dramatically
and memorably.

To demonstrate leads turned into closed sales, have your sales group
complete a worksheet on “Customer Clyde” who buys X dollars of product
Y four times a year. Then increase those leads to customers as the audience
calculates on their worksheets. The numbers will come alive as they them-
selves work with the changing results.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 75

TIP 135: Never Let Facts Speak for Themselves

Facts need interpretation. According to Mark Twain, “There are three
kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” If you don’t believe this, tune
into the next political campaign. People can make facts and numbers mean
almost anything. Interpret yours so that your listeners draw the same con-
clusions you intend.

Metaphors, Similes, and Other Analogies

TIP 136: Use Metaphors, Similes, and Other Analogies
to Clarify and Aid Retention

A metaphor is a word or phrase substituted for another to suggest similarity.
For example: “My friend is my Rock of Gibraltar,” “Time is money,” “Kill
that idea,” “That question will be the litmus test,” “This new line of tires will
be our insurance policy against obsolescence.”

A simile compares two things with the actual words like or as in the anal-
ogy. Recently, I’ve heard business presenters use examples such as these:
“Trying to process these data with your computers is like trying to mow your
lawn with a pair of scissors”; “The consistency of this new product is much
like shaving foam”; “Your files are like athletic socks and dress socks; you
don’t need both every day. Access should determine how you should store
them”; “This new legislation before Congress is like throwing a nuclear
bomb at an ant hill—and missing the ant hill.”

The more complex the idea, the more important it is to simplify and illus-
trate by comparison.

TIP 137: Use Analogies to Provide a
Consistent Framework

Think how many times you have heard the functioning of the human eye
and its parts compared to the working of a camera—an excellent analogy
for clarifying a complex process. Or how often have you heard complex
routers referred to as a telephone switchboard—with each part of the
equipment explained as it compares to a small telephone system?

Probably the best-known analogies and allegories are Biblical parables
and Aesop’s fables. “Concern over the unrepentant means leaving the 99
sheep to look for the lost one.” “The tortoise runs a slow but steady pace
and crosses the finish line a winner.” Such visual or emotional analogies
help audiences follow a lengthy presentation step by step.

76 Chapter Four

TIP 138: Remember That Analogies Never
Prove Anything

They illustrate. They clarify. They make points memorable. When you
stretch them for proof, they fail.

Colorful Phrasing
TIP 139: Use Triads to Tease the Ear

Triads refer to words, phrases, or sentences grouped in threes. Examples:
“Blood, sweat, and tears”; “Faith, hope, and charity”; “Ready, set, go”; “Gov-
ernment of the people, by the people, for the people”; “Our service is
quick, safe, and reliable”; and “It’s a turnkey option: delivered, installed,
and trained.”

TIP 140: Use Alliteration to Play and Pay

Alliteration refers to words that start with the same sound or rhyme in other
ways. Such alliteration can help your audience remember your key points
or your positioning statements. Examples: “Prepare, promote, and pro-
duce.” “They’re playing the blame game.” “Our contracts are clean, clear,
concise.” “Assess your needs, access your database, allocate your resources,
and apply our technology.”

TIP 141: Use Antithesis to Reverse Thinking

Opposite ideas juxtaposed in the same sentence create thought-provoking
grabbers: Examples: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what
you can do for your country.” “The real question is not, Can you afford this
equipment; the real question is, Can you afford the downtime without it?”
“The problem isn’t the problem; the problem is the supposed solution.”

TIP 142: Select Slogans to Encapsulate Your Theme

Slogans typically capture a key point in a memorable way. Salespeople have
created their own slogans, such as “Dialing for dollars” or “Satisfaction
guaranteed or your money back,” as have most organizations, associations,
and corporations.

As you repeat your slogan throughout the presentation—or at least at the
beginning and the end—you add emphasis to the key message. Here are

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 77

examples from our social or political history that remain in our collective
memory primarily because they were captured in a slogan that resounded
on the airwaves for days or decades: “The race card”; “Just say no”; “Com-
passionate conservatism”; “Read my lips”; and “An axis of evil.”

TIP 143: Repeat for Purpose and Effect

Readers can always flip back the page and reread if they miss a point. Lis-
teners cannot. So a functional reason for planned repetition is to make sure
your audience is “with you”—that they haven’t missed a point somewhere
along the way.

Another reason to repeat a key word or phrase is simply for effect. Moti-
vational speakers use repetition almost as frequently as a pause—to let an
idea sink in and soak in.

TIP 144: Create Mnemonic Aids

After you have organized your five steps to do X or your six goals for the
new year, consider ways to help your audience members recall them
quickly. Can you create an acrostic? (An acrostic is built by using the first let-
ter of each idea to form a single word or phrase or sentence.) The acrostic
holds the concept together so that it is easy to remember as a whole. Here’s
an example:

Acrostic = A Fun Day!
A = ample money
F = friends
U = unscheduled time
N = no interruptions
D = date
A = adventures
Y = youthful energy

Or rather than an acrostic, you may collapse a complex formula or plan
into four short words that will be easier to remember. Sometimes the
mnemonic might be visual—for example, a drawing of a three-legged stool
with each leg labeled with a different product line that produces total rev-
enue for the division.

However you determine to do it, such devices greatly improve retention
of your concepts.

78 Chapter Four

Transitions

TIP 145: Polish Your Transitions Between Points

Once you have decided on the framework for your key points, be sure to tie
them together. Transitions carry your listener from point A to point B. Each
point should conclude with a bridging statement that leads the audience to
the next key point, as shown in the following examples:

Example 1

Concluding point A: “Good health depends not only on stress reduction
but also on proper nutrition.”
Bridge: “So you can see how eating right reduces the risks of heart disease
and cancer.”
Overview of point B: “Let’s talk about what we mean by proper nutrition in
our company cafeteria.”

Example 2

Bridge: “You may be thinking that all those preventive measures sound
good. But where will you find the time to implement them?”
Overview: “We’ve decided on three ways to help you stay healthy without
lengthening your work day. The first is our intent to install a jogging track.”
Concluding point and bridging to next: “So the jogging track should be open
by the end of the year. In the meantime, of perhaps even greater concern
is the dietitian’s meal plan. . . .”

In addition to these transitional passages, there are several other ways to
signal your audience that you are ready to move to the next idea. These
include a summary of your points up to this juncture in your presentation,
a long pause, a change of physical location in the room, or a new visual.
Whichever method you use, take your listeners with you as you move from
thought to thought.

Smooth transitions increase retention and exemplify a polished presen-
tation. Transitions are to a speech what paragraphs are to a document.

TIP 146: Limit Your Use of the Common Countdown

The most common transitional device is to enumerate: “My first reason for
wanting to change the current policy is. . . . The second reason we should
consider a change is. . . . The third reason for the change involves. . . . And
finally, we need a change because. . . .” There’s nothing wrong with this
approach other than it is just not very imaginative.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 79

TIP 147: Use a Series of Questions as Transitions

Your entire presentation may be arranged around a framework of questions
as transitions. For example: What’s the problem? How serious is the prob-
lem? How do we solve the problem? Who should be assigned to tackle the
problem? How long will it take? How much will it cost?

TIP 148: Consider a Theme Transition

Look for a theme or metaphor to use as a transitional hinge between pre-
sentation segments. For example, consider this one built around the theme
of myths: “The first competitor myth that I’d like to dispel among our sales
team is that. . . . Another myth that we need to allay is. . . . Another perva-
sive myth in the marketplace is that. . . .”

A second example: “Our department has been holding onto security
blankets far too long to generate revenue. One security blanket for last year
was our income from product X. . . . Another security blanket that we came
to depend on in the third quarter was. . . . Then there was the security blan-
ket of revenue from product Y that we grabbed and clung to in the fourth
quarter. . . .”

In addition to providing excellent transitions, these metaphors create
memorable images in listeners’ minds.

Titles

TIP 149: Eliminate the Deadwood: The Obvious, the
Unnecessary, and the General

Because you need so many precise, descriptive words for technical and busi-
ness presentations, you have absolutely no room for the deadwood. Elim-
inate “garbage” words and phrases such as these: a history of . . . , the use
of . . . , a study of . . . , a report on . . . , an investigation into . . . , various
aspects of . . . , several approaches to . . . , various techniques to . . . , an
analysis of the performance of . . . , and factors in. . . .

TIP 150: Use the Primary Title to Grab Attention and a
Subtitle to Explain

The primary title can be intriguing or straightforward, humorous or seri-
ous. In general, avoid long titles that obscure or mislead as to subject or
tone. Use a subtitle to give the real skinny. Here are some ideas for creat-
ing a catchy title. Focus on a specific. Be global and comprehensive.

80 Chapter Four

Sound useful, not cute. Sound cute, not serious. Try alliteration and
rhyming. Pose contrasting ideas. State benefits. Combine several of the
foregoing.

Once you are holding a stack of notes or a full outline and draft of your
presentation, you will feel much better about the business of presenting a
new budget to your boss or a new product line to your prospect. Getting
your message down in black and white is reassuring and motivating. How-
ever, you are not ready to deliver your ideas yet. Editing comes next.

THE EDIT

If you do not edit yourself before speaking, your listeners will do it as you
speak. If you seem hurried or behind schedule and in danger of not finish-
ing on time, the members of your audience will keep one eye on their
watches and the other on your stack of notes or the number of your visuals.
Their anxiety will become your anxiety.

To put your audience at ease, assure them that you are in control of your
information by pacing yourself and staying on schedule. Practice gives you
confident control. Despite your attention to timing from the very start of
your preparation, you will need to edit during your practice sessions as a
final measure.

TIP 151: Weed Out Generalities, Clichés, and Platitudes

Forget what you learned in school—more is not better. No one grades by
pages, weight, or length anymore. Make your points specific, and support
them with facts. Substitute fresh wording for clichés. Do not put your audi-
ence to sleep with platitudes.

If you don’t edit yourself before you
speak, your listeners will do it as you
speak.

Creating Your Content, Organizing Your Information, Polishing Your Points 81

TIP 152: Remember That Timing Indicates Emphasis

In general, a good rule of thumb for allocation of your overall time is to
spend 10 to 15 percent of your time on the opening, 70 to 85 percent on
the body, and 5 to 10 percent on the closing. This allows slightly more time
up front in the introduction to grab attention, “win over” a hostile or unin-
terested audience, and establish credibility than to close the presentation.
If your presentation includes an involved action plan, that section most
likely should be part of the body of your presentation, and your close
should focus on the final persuasive push toward the decision to act.

If, during practice, you find that you spend 30 seconds defending a rea-
son to spend $10,000 and seven minutes on an introductory anecdote, that
is the time to reshuffle your information so that the timing of these two seg-
ments more accurately reflects the importance of the ideas.

To lengthen the entire presentation, come up with additional key points
or elaboration for emphasis: facts, statistics, illustrations, quotations, sur-
veys, or anecdotes. Do not simply add words to points already well made.

On the other hand, you may discover that you need to cut. In doing so,
always keep the audience’s preferences in mind. Think of your presenta-
tion as a roadmap. If your audience wants to take only interstate highways
to their destination, do not pencil in all the farm-to-market roads along the
way. This merely clutters the map.

The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.

VOLTAIRE

On information overload: Remember, most

houseplants in the U.S. are killed by over-

watering. R. JOHN BROCKMANN

TIP 153: Record Your Timing Point by Point

Plan how long you intend to spend on each point of your presentation.
Then later, as you rehearse your presentation, make any necessary adjust-
ments to that plan and record the time required to deliver each section. For
example, if a certain anecdote takes three minutes, jot this on your outline.
These notations will help you make spur-of-the-moment decisions about
what to eliminate or add if you run long or short during the actual presen-
tation. Here’s an example:

3. Explanation about delay in relocation overseas—5 min

Statistics from Atlanta office—2 min

Jamie Huang’s move—2 min

Second-quarter foul-ups—1 min

82 Chapter Four

Notice that the total point takes five minutes. However, if the client
team arrives at the meeting a few minutes late, the presenter may decide
to recoup two minutes of lost time by omitting the Jamie Huang anec-
dote from this point and another five minutes from another place in the
presentation.

TIP 154: Deliver and Time Your Presentation in
Several Run-Throughs

If you are reading a script or practicing with an outline, remember that one
page (about 250 words) translates to about two minutes of spoken delivery.
To be accurate, read and clock your presentation several times. Keep in
mind a speaker’s tendency to present a talk more quickly in rehearsal than
in real life.

No matter how closely you have timed your presentation, however, it is
rarely a good idea to set your slideshow to run automatically. It makes an
otherwise great presentation look far too canned and therefore imperfect.
Leave timed, automatically running slideshows for unnarrated presenta-
tions at a trade show or the museum lobby!

TIP 155: Cut the Fat First

Sometimes you can condense your presentation without deleting anything of
substance simply by tightening your wording. If you have written a draft, strip
away the fat. Note how succinct the quotations are at the beginning of each
chapter in this book. They convey their ideas with nouns and verbs. Adjectives
and adverbs clutter. For stronger impact, retain only the meat of the idea.

TIP 156: Cut the Skeleton, Not the Flesh, If You Must
Reduce Length

If your presentation runs too long, you may be tempted to cut the flesh and
leave the skeleton. That is, you may feel inclined to retain all your key
points and just omit some of the elaboration about each—the statistics, sto-
ries, quotations, and visuals. Don’t. Remember, these “extras” make your
key points memorable. It is better to make fewer points well than to make
many points that no one remembers.

TIP 157: Always Leave Yourself a Safety Net on Timing

Count on the fact that a written presentation will take longer to deliver with
ad libs, audience reactions, and interactivity. Distractions, late starts, ques-
tions, and other interruptions may force you to do some on-the-spot adjust-
ments to end on time.

5

Practicing Your

Presentation

By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.

BEN FRANKLIN

There are three things to aim at in public speak-

ing: first to get into your subject, then to get your

subject into yourself, and lastly to get your sub-

ject into your heart. A. S. GREGG

Oratory: The art of making deep sounds from

the chest seem like important messages from the

brain. FRANKLIN P. JONES

How necessary is rehearsal? The best of his day, Mark Twain had this to
say: “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good im-
promptu speech.”

Reading from a full script, speaking from notes or an outline, and memo-
rizing your speech—these are your delivery choices until technology makes
it possible and affordable for each of us to have a portable teleprompter the
size of a PDA.

Speaking from notes or an outline is by far the superior method. On
occasion, however, the other two options have merit. In complex presenta-
tions containing technical data difficult to learn, memorize, or summarize,
you may resort to reading a prepared text for portions of the presentation.
On other occasions, such as formal situations with legal implications, a for-
mal statement that must be delivered precisely may be read.

83

Copyright 2003 Dianna Booher. Click Here for Terms of Use.

84 Chapter Five

TIP 158: Consider the Pros and Cons Before
Reading a Script

Nothing can lull an audience to sleep faster than hearing a speaker read
a speech.

Pros

■ A script quiets your fears that you will “go blank.” Having every word in
front of you in black and white provides a security blanket.

■ Your timing will be perfect. You will know exactly how long each point takes,
and with practice in reading, you will feel confident about ending on time.

■ Your language will be more exact, precise, colorful, and grammatically
correct than if you speak extemporaneously. You will have the opportu-
nity to rework and polish each sentence.

■ You generally can include a greater amount of detail with fewer words by
reading a tightly edited script.

■ You can create and maintain a formal atmosphere for the presentation.

■ You will have something “official” to give to the media if you are a
spokesperson for your organization. Scripts are often necessary for gain-
ing approval of your wording from your company’s public affairs officer
or if you are otherwise concerned about being misquoted. You can, how-
ever, provide a written text to the media for their quotes and still deliver
your talk extemporaneously.

Cons

■ You will have little eye contact with your audience. No matter how much
you have practiced your upward glances, you will be tempted to read
more and more—particularly in the all-important beginning, when you
either win or lose your audience’s attention. The reciprocity of the situa-
tion is lost. When you speak to an audience eye to eye, you have their
attention because they have yours. When you stare at the script, their
temptation is to reciprocate by looking at their own notes or glancing
around the room at others’ reactions.

■ Your words lose their genuineness and intimacy. When you cannot look
your audience in the face, you lose one of your strongest sources of cred-
ibility. Imagine if Don Juan, in wooing a foreign sweetheart, pulled a
scrap of paper from his pocket and read in her language, “I love you for
your beauty, your warmth, your charm, your thoughtfulness.” How
romantic can this moment be when she’s gazing at his eyes and he’s star-
ing at a piece of paper?

Practicing Your Presentation 85

■ You will not sound natural. Despite your skill as an experienced lecturer,
you will have difficulty not sounding stilted when reading from a script—
much like the “average Joe” testimonials on TV commercials.

■ Your gestures will be nonexistent or contrived. To be effective, gestures
should come from the gut. Reading stifles that unconscious signal to ges-
ture where necessary.

■ You will be tied to a lectern or table to deliver your presentation, forfeit-
ing the freedom to move toward your visuals or the audience.

■ You may lose your place. If panic sets in, you may find yourself frantically
groping for your next phrase or idea.

■ The audience may wonder if the words and ideas you are delivering are
really yours—or if a ghostwriter friend or colleague drafted them. And, if
so, should you receive credit for the presentation’s impact?

■ If it is an audience you know well, they will contrast the way you usually
talk and gesture with your “presentation style” and focus on the disparity
between the two.

As you will discover, the advantages of reading from a script can be achieved
with almost any delivery method if you prepare adequately. The cons are hard
to overcome. Only on rare occasion should you read from a script.

READING FROM A SCRIPT

If, against all advice from the experts, you decide to read your presentation,
here are some tips to make you more effective.

TIP 159: Dictate the Text in One Sitting

The process will be faster, and the tone will be more informal and appro-
priate. After you have a draft, you can polish it.

TIP 160: Prepare Your Script for Reading by Marking It

Double- or triple-space the text. Leave extra lines between paragraphs to
signal yourself that you are finished with an idea. Type using both upper-
and lowercase letters; all uppercase words are more difficult to read.

Mark a single slash (/) to indicate a pause; mark a double slash (//) to
indicate a longer pause. With a highlighting pen, mark key words and

86 Chapter Five

phrases that need emphasis. Choose certain colors to help you quickly
grasp the layout of your ideas. For example, use green for basic key
points, yellow for examples, red for statistics, and blue for transitions and
recaps.

Leave the pages unstapled so that you can lay them aside easily as you fin-
ish reading each one. Do not break a sentence, paragraph, or list between
two pages. Always number the pages. Insert margin notes for use of visuals,
demonstrations, or other movements away from the lectern—all in the
wide right-hand margins.

Always deliver your speech from the same copy you used for practice
rather than a new copy with a different layout. Your mind will “photograph”
chunks of text, and the first words of a paragraph will help your brain recall
the rest.

TIP 161: Check the Lighting at the Lectern or
Table Beforehand

Nothing perplexes a speaker like getting to the lectern to read a perfectly
marked script only to discover that the lighting is so bad that either the
main text appears only faintly or any colored highlighting fails too show
up at all.

TIP 162: Don’t Try to Hide Your Script

The audience will know that you are reading, so trying to hide the script will
look deceptive and silly.

TIP 163: Slow Down

Be aware that you probably will read too quickly and will need to make a
conscious effort to slow down. Make yourself notes on your script to do so.

TIP 164: Concentrate on the Meaning Rather Than the
Phrasing of Your Words

Read with understanding. With concentration, your inflection, pauses, and
gestures will improve.

Practicing Your Presentation 87

SPEAKING FROM NOTES OR AN OUTLINE

TIP 165: Speak from Notes or an Outline When
Delivering Most Presentations

Although there are exceptions, this is by far the most effective delivery
method for the majority of presenters. For the sake of argument, however,
here are the pros and cons for your own evaluation:

Pros

■ You can maintain the all-important eye contact with the audience
throughout.

■ Your ideas will seem genuine and intimate because they will be expressed
spontaneously, with your natural inflection and emotion.

■ Your gestures will be natural.

■ Notes provide both an outline for security and the freedom to use visuals
or to interact with the audience.

■ You will have no fear about adding or deleting ideas, facts, or illustrations
to suit audience needs or reactions. Also absent is the fear of losing your
place and your poise and of trying to find the right spot in the script to
jump back in.

Cons

■ Your exact phrasing will not be as precise with an outline as with a pol-
ished script.

■ Your timing will vary.

High-impact content does not happen seat-of-the-pants. In addition to
the idea wheel technique used for generating ideas and organizing them
into the general speech framework, you probably will need two more out-
lines for most presentations longer than about 30 minutes: a practice out-
line and a delivery outline. The content flows in direct proportion to the
time you spend organizing your ideas and then polishing them for a smooth
delivery.

TIP 166: Practice with a “Half and Half” Outline

A practice outline is a detailed outline on multiple pages or cards. If you are
using slides, the Notes View of your presentation software package allows
you to put your outline directly beneath corresponding slides. However, I

88 Chapter Five

5 min.
Transition: “So, how can we dig our way out
of the paperwork blizzard?”

3. Give your people a challenge.
• Survey responses—28% “unchallenged”
• Anecdote—utility company
• Statistics from Garfield

Conclusion: “Clearly, our people should be
able to volunteer for advisory committees.”

The half-and-half script provides structure and security while allowing
flexibility and fresh phrasing. Use it for practice or delivery.

do not suggest starting your outline there because the tendency will be to
build your entire presentation around your slideshow—a bad habit! The
slideshow then becomes your presentation. It is far better to start with an
outline of key points elsewhere and then cut and paste those portions that
relate to a specific slide into your presentation software.

The benefit of such detail is a memory crutch for practice. The negatives
are that you are likely to fumble with the pages during delivery and refer to
the outline too frequently, losing eye contact with your audience and
destroying credibility. The half-and-half script combines features of a full
script (opening, transition, and conclusion) with key words as memory jog-
gers for main points. See the figure above for specifics.

With this method, you write opening statements, transitions, and conclu-
sions in polished form. Then you express the “meat” of each point using
key words only. Such ideas will receive a spontaneous and fresh delivery in
the final presentation.

TIP 167: Deliver Your Presentation with a
Key-Word Outline

For your actual delivery, construct an outline containing only key words
that will trigger your memory with just a glance.

Practicing Your Presentation 89

TIP 168: Create a System to Manage Your Notes,
Outline, or Slides Effectively During Delivery

No audience will mind that you use notes. After all, they want to know that
you are prepared. The issue is how you use them. Here are a few guidelines
to help you handle your notes, outline, or slides effectively during delivery:

■ Always number items, but feel free to reshuffle them as needs change.

■ Jot down how much time each point or illustration takes so that you can
make an on-the-spot decision about what to eliminate or add if time runs
short or long.

■ Color-code the edges of your cards, pages, or slides so that you can
quickly skip forward or backward if you make extemporaneous changes.
For example, use green edges or highlight colors for main points, blue
for supporting points or illustrations, and red for statistics. (More about
this in the Visuals chapter.)

TIP 169: Memorize the Opening, Transitions,
and Closing

The first and last few minutes have the highest impact. Memorizing your
opening, transitions, and close allows you to look at your audience and
deliver your points with conviction and freshness.

TIP 170: Practice with Any Visuals or Demonstrations
that You Plan to Use in Actual Delivery

A mental walk-through will not do, even if you plan to use notes. You need
to practice the timing. Additionally, actual practice with demonstrations or
visuals often will reveal “gaps” either in your content or in your visuals—
places they do not match, items out of order, builds that should appear all
at once, or other confusing animation.

MEMORIZING YOUR SPEECH

The final presentation method is memorization. My suggestion is not to
memorize anything longer than 10 minutes. You will fear going blank, par-
ticularly if there are distractions. Memorization also makes the audience

90 Chapter Five

uneasy. At first, they marvel, then they worry whether you will make it to the
end. Here are the pros and cons, along with a few tips in case you decide on
this delivery option.

Pros
■ If you work very hard to memorize a long script verbatim, with all the

appropriate inflections and gestures, you will sound like a genius—
although maybe a robot genius.
■ It will take you a long time—a very long time.

Cons
■ If you have a memory lapse, you will feel like an idiot, and your audience

will think you foolish for being so “unprepared.”

TIP 171: Prepare a Written Text and Read It and
Reread It and Reread It

Practice from the same script, because your mind’s eye will “photograph”
sections of pages to aid memorization. Repetition is your secret weapon.

TIP 172: Break Your Script into Chunks

Memorize one chunk at a time. Then, as you practice, recite the previously
memorized chunks each day, and add on the newly learned one.

TIP 173: Devise an Acronym or Other Mnemonic
Device to Help with Recall

Some people plan their shopping list this way; others, their to-do list. The
use of acronyms or visual pictures (such as associating each floor of your
executive suite with a concept or comparing a Halloween costume to parts
of the marketing campaign) will keep you from going blank.

TIP 174: Practice in Front of a Mirror

You will be more likely to verify that you are retaining natural facial expres-
sions and other appropriate gestures.

Practicing Your Presentation 91

LEARNING—BUT NOT MEMORIZING OR
READING—YOUR MATERIAL

TIP 175: Read Your Outline, Notes, or Practice Script
Over and Over

Read aloud to time yourself on each section, and record the times in the
margins. Connect the ideas using an acronym, and try to predict the next
thought before your eyes catch the next prompt. Then practice in front of
a mirror to see how often you are able to glance up from your notes.

TIP 176: Memorize the Opening, Transitions,
and Closing

Memorization at these points will allow you to maintain eye contact at the
most important times—when you are making a first impression (and your
audience is deciding whether you are worth listening to) and at the con-
clusion (when they fix in their minds how good you were).

TIP 177: Scrimmage—There’s No Substitute

A mental “walk through” alone will not do. Practice expressing your key
ideas aloud, in complete sentences, and in the correct order. The time you
spend on these drills will add polish and confidence to your actual presen-
tation. Pay particular attention to your delivery of humorous anecdotes.
They, more than any other part of your presentation, tend to succeed or fail
based on delivery.

Videotape yourself to become aware of your posture, gestures, and facial
expressions. Either turn your back to the monitor as you listen to your
recording or make an audio recording to study your voice. You will become
more aware of your rate of speech, a tendency to let words trail off at the
ends of sentences, mumbling, or poor diction. This aids you in deciding
where to add emphasis and variety.

Another benefit of audiotape is that you can listen to and fix the material
in your mind while completing other tasks, such as commuting to work,
exercising, or eating. Tape. Listen. Rehearse again. Tape. Listen. Rehearse,
and record again. You will hear dramatic improvements with each trial run,
and these improvements will build your confidence.

Finally, practice in front of friends, family, or colleagues, and solicit
their feedback. If they are interested, your enthusiasm and confidence will
grow. If their attention wanders, you need either more practice or better
material.

92 Chapter Five

Sure, scrimmaging seems like a waste of time on the front end. But the
payoff is tremendous. Scrimmaging reveals gaps in your content in time for
you to repair them. It helps you coordinate the visual support so that things
flow more smoothly and you can concentrate on your transitions between
points. It helps you polish your phrasing into catchy, attention-getting state-
ments. And it builds your self-confidence. All these factors then affect
energy, passion, and ultimately, your credibility with the audience.

TIP 178: Evaluate and Incorporate Feedback from the
Practice Sessions

Remember that others’ feedback will be biased. Your family and friends
generally will praise your presentation. Do not rely too heavily on their
compliments; instead, focus on their suggestions. Conversely, do not take
too seriously the harsh comments of a perpetual critic.

■ Value your self-confidence over comments that are more destructive than
constructive.

■ Do not try to correct everything at once. Have a priority system. Work on
either slowing down your delivery, adding gestures, or remembering your
transitions. One thing at a time.

■ Keep an eye peeled for flawed logic or information gaps that need clos-
ing—even at this late date. The practice phase is your last chance to
ensure that ideas are logical and clear.

■ Continue to monitor your timing, and remember that your actual deliv-
ery will tend to run a little longer than your practice.

■ Do not be too hard on yourself. Remember that you will always sound bet-
ter to others than to yourself. Focus on your improvements and how
much your audience will benefit from listening to you.

With a little editing, a little learning, a little practice, and a little evalua-
tion, your material will become so much a part of you that the ideas will flow
when you open your mouth.